The airplane ride to Canada was more exhausting than I care to remember. It started at an unruly hour with the first flight of the morning out of Bremen and we had THREE flights total.
worst. idea. ever.
Even Milayla was a little nervous about the idea.
I love that face of hers. And the hair. A little unsure about the adventure ahead, but ready to go forward.
The boys were all smiles. I don't think they quite realized what was ahead of them.
The first flight was short. The kids had snacks and each looked through their own books. And all was fine.
The second flight was loooonng. Amsterdam to New York.
Jason and I each took one child and each child had a bag of items that I had selected specifically for them that would be complete surprises to them (as they were new items that I had purchased). The absolute best thing I bought the kids were their own sticker activity books. Those things kept the kids happily entertained until brunch service rolled around. Milayla would not get to try out brunch service though because between putting the sticker book away and the food being placed on the tray she was completely out.
After Atticus ate he wanted to snatch up Milayla's chair (that she wasn't using) and he rested his head on the small bit of my leg that Milayla wasn't laying on and he was out pretty quickly as well. It was so sweet to have those kids cuddled up to me, I loved it. They were out for a good few hours but I unfortunately had no sleep myself...
Once they were awake they were pretty happy with their sticker books and the couple other books that we had gotten for them (lift the flap atlas, i-spy and a couple story books) for the last few hours of the flight. And there were snacks; lots and lots of snacks. Then we got a light lunch on the plane, landed, and then things got rocky.
New York Airport is CRAZY. We had a two hour lay over and we were not sure how we were going to fill that time, well, I guess we didn't need to worry about that because between unloading, picking up our bags, rechecking in, and getting to our terminal we were just shy of that two hour mark. And by the time we got to our gate the kids were DONE. We climbed aboard the tiny little city hopper headed for Montreal. The seats were split up with one seat on one side and two on the other. Brilliantly, the airline company did NOT give us two sets of two seats together. Instead they gave us two single seats and one seat of of two different sets. We were able to switch one of the single seats without a problem but the guy that was supposed to be in my row was not too pleased about it and wanted his seat. Thank heavens for the flight attendant who basically told him to leave the mother and child (us) alone and sit in the single seat. He mumbled about the leg room and sat down. The situation got even better when Milayla figured that refusing to sit in her own seat to get buckled up would ensure the plane did not take off (she was so done with flying at this point) and then it got EVEN better when we did start taking off and she looked around to see that Jason and Atticus were no where to be found (they were behind us) and she freaked out. This wasn't a little freak out. This wasn't just crying. It was a full on freak out. I cuddled her as best as I could while we were both buckled up and tried to assure her that Daddy and Atticus were behind us. Jason and Atticus tried to talk to her but she couldn't hear them. I offered food. I offered drinks. All she wanted was to be held and feel safe. The man in the single seat made a very rude remark. I probably would have slapped him if I had a free hand. But, really, all I really wanted to do was scoop that little girl up into my arms and let her know that everything was going to be all right. Let her know that she was safe. It was a very long 20 minutes until I was given the okay to unbuckle her and put her on my lap. Once on my lap she was asleep in less than 30 seconds. She slept the entire flight. She slept through customs and most of the airport. A little boy, of about 10 years old, who had been sitting in front of us asked if he could give her a hug because she was so sweet. It was cute.
At this point most of us (except for the kids and their nap on the long flight) had been up for well over 24 hours. Completely exhausted. Barely functional. And still not in the clear yet.
We had to do extra stuff at customs since we were not just visiting, we were moving and that took a while (though that was mostly due to volume of people waiting, not the process itself as the actual process was pretty quick and pleasant). Then we shuttled to our car rental. Waited forever. And finally made it to our hotel as bed time was approaching (we had landed at 430pm and it took us nearly 4 hours to get to the hotel..). We opted for room service and didn't care what it was as long as it meant we didn't need to go anywhere. Enjoyed baths and showers. Pyjamas. And sweet potato fries. The kids barely stayed up long enough to eat. Once their heads hit the pillows, they were asleep within minutes.
And we weren't far behind them.
The next morning, we practically hit the ground running and it took a good couple of weeks for the kids to really slip into a sleeping schedule. But we are definitely all there now. Hopefully, by the time this post goes up, everything else will be into a schedule as well (like mommy school, our home, and Jason's job!). At the very least, I am so glad to see how quickly and well the kids had adjusted and how much they really seem to love it here. It is great to see. And, really, the flights were all great except for that last one. Lesson learned - try to avoid another flight schedule like that or be a bit more prepared for the completely exhausted melt downs. I love these kiddos and what great troopers they are.
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